Some very healthy Fruit, Nut & Seed Bars

March 27, 2014

I recently tasked myself with making a super-healthy treat out of dried fruits, nuts and seeds, a make I’ve been meaning to experiment with for ages now and co-incided with a Healthier Snacks session I was running at school. Searching Google for inspiration I stumbled upon the perfect recipe that ticked all my boxes from David Lebovitz for some No-Bake Cereal Bars. Having been lucky enough to meet David at Food Blogger Connect in London last year I was eager to try one of his recipes for my first ever time. Not exactly being a dessert or patisserie person this opportunity rarely avails itself to me!.

Despite David’s recipe being extremely well road tested I needed to adapt it to the ingredients I had to hand and choose to omit the chocolate chips (though I’m sure they’d be lovely I was after something super-healthy) and went heavier on the nuts, seeds and dried fruits. And slightly increased the peanut butter and honey that binds the goodies together.

These no bake bars are choca full of goodness including oats, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, various nuts (a mix of any unroasted unsalted peanuts, cashews, walnuts, brazils, hazelnuts, almonds), dates, sultanas and cranberries (or any other dried fruit) and are perfect to pop in a lunchbox for a nutrient dense energy burst. They keep very well in an airtight container for a week or so, or could even be frozen in individual slices. Whilst essentially being ‘no-bake’ it’s nice to lightly pre-roast the oats, seeds and nuts in the oven for added flavour.

Do try to use no added sugar or salt peanut butter and a brand that’s not loaded with unnecessary vegetable fats (the cheaper ones can be prone to this).

1) Preheat the oven to 180ºc / 160º fan / gas mark 4.
2) Spread out the oats and seeds on one of the baking trays, the nuts on another. Bake the oats and seeds for 12 minutes and the nuts for 10 minutes. They should be all slightly golden and very lightly roasted. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
3) Meanwhile line your 20cm by 20cm baking tray with baking paper
4) Once a little cooled coarsely chop the nuts (it’s nice to keep them fairly large)
5) In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, seeds, chopped nuts, chopped dates and dried fruit.
6) Place the peanut butter and honey either in a small saucepan or a microwave proof dish. Heat until warm and runny, thoroughly mix together before stirring into the nut, fruit and seed mix. Ensure everything’s well coated.
7) Turn out the mixture into the baking tray and very firmly press down with your hands.
8) Place the dish in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up, remove, cut into slices.

14 thoughts on “Some very healthy Fruit, Nut & Seed Bars”

You’ve made these up so prettily Lou, I’d find it very hard to bring myself to unwrap and eat one. I’ve had my eye on David’s recipe for an age and still haven’t made them. Seeing these, I’m thinking, it’s really time I just got on with it – although I couldn’t possibly leave the chocolate out!

Not only do these look really pretty but they will also help me keep my teenagers fed. On arriving home from school they graze right through to dinner time and the constant complaint is that there is never anything to eat. These will fill that gap. Will try them this week

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